Adolescent attachment style in residential care: the attachment style interview and vulnerable attachment style questionnaire

Attachment frameworks are increasingly used to understand human development and used by social workers in care planning for children and young people in care. To date, there have been few assessment tools that social workers can use easily and therefore little sustained use of attachment assessment by practitioners in residential care. This paper describes the use of the Attachment Style Interview (ASI) for adolescents and the Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire (VASQ) self-report in a pilot study of young people in residential care in the UK and Isle of Man. The aim was to test these relatively new measures in practice contexts administered by practitioners, and to determine rates of insecure and disorganised attachment style to compare with other studies. Results show around half of the young people had disorganised (or mixed) attachment styles using either measure, with avoidant attachment styles more common than anxious ones. Secure style was rare. There was some difference in young person and carer ratings, with young people rating slightly less disorganised style and more anxious style, but simplified classifications were similar. The implications for assessing attachment style in residential care to improve identification of interpersonal risk and aid with care planning are discussed.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The British Journal of Social Work following peer review. The version of record Antonia Bifulco, Catherine Jacobs, Yael Ilan-Clarke, Ruth Spence, Andrea Oskis, Adolescent Attachment Style in Residential Care: The Attachment Style Interview and Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 47, Issue 7, October 2017, Pages 1870–1883, is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw117